COLUMBUS, Ohio — Tyreke Smith knows that rushing as a defensive end is an artform. It’s not something he can just go out there and do.

It takes time. It takes planning, and that’s when the sacks come.

“When you are going out there and we’re hitting our moves, doing our moves trying to make a difference in the game and we’re not getting there,” Smith said, “you put that work in the whole week and like this second, a millisecond too slow to get the sack, that kind of means something.”

In 2021, Smith’s biggest goal and his biggest message to those new to the Ohio State defensive line is about shaving off those seconds, turning pressures into sacks.

It’s something Smith hadn’t been able to show off recently.

The Cleveland native returned to the field Saturday against Indiana, missing the Akron, Rutgers and Maryland game due to injury. In his return, Smith recorded one of five sacks against the Hoosiers for a defense that, as a whole, recorded 14 tackles-for-loss.

“It meant a lot, but it’s just the beginning,” Smith said. “Coach always says we can get way better than we are and that we are just scratching the surface. I just try and keep that mentality in the front of my head, always trying to look for something better.”

As a whole, the Ohio State defensive line is a unit that’s still scratching the surface.

It’s a room with some familiar faces: Smith, defensive end Zach Harrison, defensive tackles Haskell Garrett and Antwuan Jackson. But then there’s the talented freshmen: defensive ends J.T. Tuimoloau and Jack Sawyer along with defensive tackle Tyleik Williams, players who are still trying to figure out what the art of an Ohio State rushman is.

“I think everybody when they come here, everybody still has that high school flavor to them,” Smith said. “It just takes a little bit to knock off that. Where they are at now, they have definitely bought into the system we have in the art of pass rushing. You can definitely see it in their play.”

But to Smith, those freshmen are developing quickly, “taking the meetings to the field,” and developing a quick first step at the line of scrimmage, learning the art of the rush at the college level. It’s turning into stats, with Tuimoloau, Sawyer and Williams combining for nine tackles-for-loss, including 7.5 sacks.

Head coach Ryan Day said his defensive line is starting to get some of its experience back into the fold, and it’s paying off, allowing defensive line coach Larry Johnson some variety of personnel in his room.

“The younger guys, who early on had to play forced into some roles, now there’s real depth there,” Day said. “I think that room’s coming around.”

And it’s not a one-man show on the line either.

Nineteen Ohio State defensive players have combined for the team’s 41 tackles-for-loss in 2021, including 12 defensive linemen.

“We’re working as a group, just working very hard on our craft, getting that confidence that I talked about earlier in the year with the young guys,” Garrett said. “I’m happy with where we’re at.”

To Smith, it’s like a bike chain: the defensive ends can’t have success unless it’s linked to what the defensive tackles are doing and vice versa.

It’s a team effort, and there’s no way he would rather have it.

“We work together, we’re brothers,” Smith said. “We go out there, we love playing for each other. We just always try and make each other better. When someone gets a sack, when someone gets a tackle, we all feel like we got the tackle.”

As Ohio State goes into its biggest home game of the season, there’s really no room for error.

“Coach Day talks about how we’re going into the second season,” Garrett said. “Everything is a one-elimination game.”

And in each one-elimination game, those extra seconds are critical to make the defensive line work, something that Smith feels will continue.

“The pressures are definitely turning into sacks now,” he said. “So we have to keep putting them in the bank, keep sacking them and just keep getting better.”